Set It Off

The film was made for nine million dollars and took $41.2m worldwide, becoming New Line's biggest earner of 1996. Four friends in Los Angeles start robbing banks. What holds the film up is not the robberies but how they got there. Stony cannot pay for her brother's education; Frankie is unfairly fired from the bank where she works because she happened to know a robber; Tisean lives under the threat of losing her child; Cleo has already concluded she has nothing to lose. The robbery is not presented as a choice but as the result of doors closing. Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise and Queen Latifah star. Latifah's Cleo was an unusual character for the period and became the film's most discussed performance. F. Gary Gray directed, from a screenplay by Takashi Bufford and Kate Lanier. Who it is for: viewers who like heist films tied to a social story, with female friendship at the centre. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a clean getaway plan. Most of these characters make one mistake after another, and the film does not soften the ending.